A busy summer is ahead for Sidney Crosby

22/04/2024 15:29

Contract extension talks and shift back to international hockey is on the docket for Sidney Crosby this offseason

It may feel far off but July 1st hits exactly ten weeks to the day from today. It's a significant date in the hockey world for the start of free agency and the changing of the calendar that officially allows contracts ending in 2024-25 to be extended. Sidney Crosby is in that category and last week at Penguins breakaway day both the Penguin captain and general manager offered some general thoughts about it.

"Obviously, I'm going to talk to [general manager Kyle Dubas] and have a conversation with him," Crosby said Thursday. "We'll see. I think it's just something that I'll have conversations with him about."

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"I don't really think like that," Crosby said. "I've always just gone year to year. That's always kind of served me well, as far as how I evaluate my game and that sort of thing. There's always a lot of factors. But I think that's separate from talking contract.

"Obviously, at my age, and things like that, there will be a lot of factors. But as far as my game, I don't look any differently at how much longer I can play based off that. It's always just evaluating my game for what it is, not my age."

That doesn't mean Crosby will consider retirement on a year-to-year basis, he clarified.

"I'm saying just, when you're looking at year to year and evaluating your game, whether I was 26 and had a good year, it's nice that I felt good and I was able to play all the games, things like that," he said. "But as far as the outlook, I don't think it changes how I approach that."

Crosby throwing a "we'll see" in there made modest internet waves about what that could mean, though in the bigger context doesn't change what he's always repeated about wanting to finish his career as a member of the Penguins and the standard Crosby public speaking fare.

Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman threw out a thought about it as well:

My Crosby prediction is he extends for two or three years at a $10.5M AAV. We will see if I'm close. (He's considering the World Championships, too.)

This isn't the first time Friedman has predicted a slight salary bump for Crosby, he had a similar outlook in February.

For the 17th season in a row next year, Crosby will play with an $8.7 million cap hit. His last contract was signed under a different CBA without maximum term limits and his contract was front-loaded to pay him $3.0 million in real cash in the final three seasons of next year. Regardless of where his number comes in for the next contract, it will likely involve an actual pay raise from what he's been drawing lately. Erik Karlsson has three more years left at a $10.0 million cap hit, which seems to be the impetus and reason to push Crosby up in real dollars.

Crosby's contract pad him 14.5% of the salary cap when it was first signed, even if he signs for $10.5 million that will only be 12% of the expected $87.7 million team cap in 2024-25 (which could possibly be a tick lower if the cap goes up again by 2025-26 when the new contract keeps in).

Based on his strong season, it will be money well spent for Pittsburgh on and off the ice, regardless of the terms.

The other Friedman note about the World Championships is worth spending a little time with too. International play is about to heat up in a major way — the NHL is holding their "4 Nations Faceoff" tournament in February 2025 followed by what many will see as the main event of the 2026 Olympics and the NHL players return to that event after missing the last two Olympic games.

Next month's upcoming 2024 IIHF World Championships is the precursor for this cycle and countries like Canada and USA have already made it clear that they want the veterans interested in playing the big events to start buying in and gaining international reps and chemistry with this spring's event. Typically the annual WC event is shrugged off by the established players (especially when they're held in far off places, like this year in Czechia makes players not want to surrender a portion of their offseason) — but with time to compete together at a premium, the managers want as many top players to get together and participate as possible so they can start configuring how their rosters will look for the premier tournaments.

Crosby has only played in two WC's (2006 and 2015) over the years, in part due to the Penguins' playoff schedule and/or injuries conflicting with the event. Neither will be the case this time around, and with the tournament having added importance, it could mean a trip to Czechia is in the future this May for Crosby and several other key NHL players will be a decision that they will have to consider a lot more strongly than in a different year.